ABOUT

THE GATHERING SPACES GUIDE AND WEBPAGE IS FOR PRACTITIONERS FOCUSED ON INNOVATIVE GREEN SPACE DESIGN IN CITIES.

Drawing upon the Burnham Wildlife Corridor Gathering Spaces example, the Guide highlights the power of public art to help realize underrepresented communities’ priorities for parks by weaving their language, symbols and cultural ties to the land into the user experience of these areas. We want to inspire and support others with similar goals, and to learn from each other as a community of practice.

Our intention is for this Guide to be a catalyst for future initiatives that employ artists, creatives and community leaders to co-design and activate urban green spaces in culturally relevant ways for nearby residents. The Gathering Spaces model provides strategies for uplifting the unique ability of artists to establish and sustain cultural connections to natural areas. We seek to also feature similar projects and successful models on this platform to foster exchange.

Download the Guide Book here

UPCOMING EVENTS

The BWC and Roots & Routes

The Burnham Wildlife Corridor (BWC) is a 100-acre ribbon of urban wilderness running through one of Chicago's premier lakefront properties, Burnham Park. The BWC is one of the Chicago Park District’s largest natural areas and is representative of the native prairie, savanna and woodland ecosystems of this region. Roots & Routes is an initiative aimed at co-creating and sustaining the BWC, in order to support native plants, wildlife and nearby communities. Project partners collaborate based upon a shared commitment to improving the quality of life for residents through strengthening their culturally relevant connections to vital green spaces. The Roots & Routes collective includes large institutions such as the Park District, Field Museum and The Nature Conservancy, as well as artists and many community-based organizations serving the predominantly Black, Latinx, and Chinese-American neighborhoods close to the BWC.

Gathering Spaces Guide Authors

Jacob Campbell, Naureen Rana, Georgina Valverde, Mario Longoni, Arlene Crawford, Ted Gross, Michael Dimitroff , Ben Lau, Anna Murphy, Nicola Shaw, Mark Bouman, Dorian Sylvain, and Nia Cunningham.

Land Acknowledgement

The city now named Chicago was home to Potawatomi people who were forcibly removed from their land. Menominee, Myaamia, Ho-Chunk, Kiikaapoi, Ojibwe, Odawa, and Peoria people also had deep ties to the region. The authors acknowledge that we are guests on this land and offer respect to the many Native American people living today in Chicago.